Ironing-board attachment.



L. P. BENSON. momma BOARD ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION FILED FEE. H. 19w.

- Patented July 4, 1916.

LABS P. BENSON, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

mONING-IBOARD ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1916.

Application filed February 14, 1916. Serial No. 78,219.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LARS P. BENSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ironing- Board Attachments; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in ironing boards, and more particularly to an attachment or accessory therefor, and the primary object of the invention is to provide an ironing board of a substantial type which is supported in operative position by means of a swinging support depending from the bottom of the same, and which is provided with a pair of racks positioned beneath the board and held in position by the swinging support, said racks being adapted to receive the ends of the articles being pressed that hang from the board, and will prevent the same from dropping to the ground.

Another object of this invention is to provide an ironing board with an attachment of this character which has a swiveled and hinged connection with the opposite sides of the swinging support, so that the racks may be folded in such a manner that they will be out of the way when not in use and will not in any way obstruct the swinging support when the same is folded beneath the ironing board.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which is simple and durable in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and one which will be very efficient inoperation. With these and numerous other objects in view, my invention consists of the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be herein referred to and more particularly pointed out in the specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view, showing the board in operative position; Fig. 2 is a central vertical longitudinal section; Fig. 3 is a detail transverse section taken through the support 2 where the racks are fastened to the same; Fig. 4 is a detail perspective, showing the racks in partly folded position; Fig. 5 is the same as Fig. 4, showing the racks folded; and Fig. 6 is the supporting member 16.

In describing my invention I shall refer to the drawings in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several Views and in which the numeral 1 designates an ironing board of the type which is adapted to be supported 1n operative position by means of a swinga plan view of ing support 2 which is hingedly connected with the lower surface by any desired hinge means, for instance as shown at 3 in the drawings. This type of board is adapted to be supported at one end elther to the wall or similar support so that when the. swinging support is swung down to vertical position as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the board will be held level and in operative position. When the swmgmg support 2 is swung down, the same 1s adapted to be locked in position by means of a hook 4: that depends from the lower surface of the ironing board adjacent the support and is adapted to engage an eye 5 on said support.

The ironing board 1 is provided with a pair of longitudinally extending racks 6 which are adapted to be disposed beneath the same, and are connected to the opposite sides of the swinging support 2 by the swiveled and hinged connection so that said racks may be easily folded as will be hereinafter more fully described. The two racks 6 and their connection with the side walls of the swinging support are substantially alike in construction and for the sake of brevity, I will specifically describe only one of these racks.

The rack 6 comprises a substantially rectangular shaped in cross section bar 7 which has projecting laterally and in spaced relation along its outer surface a plurality of of the ironing board alining rods 8. These rods 8 are adapted.

to receive the ends of the cloth that hangs over the'sides of the ironing board and will prevent said cloth from dropping on the ground during the ironing operation. The bar 7 is connected with a rectangular shaped block 9 by means of a hinge 10 which has one of its leaf members 11 secured to the upper surface of the bar 7 while the other leaf member 12 is secured to the upper surface of the block 9.

The side of the bar 7 adjacent the rectangular shaped block 9 has formed therein an inclined notch 13 that is inclined outwardly from a point adjacent the hinge 10 to the lower surface of said bar. By this means, when the rack is in position, it will be obvious that owing to said inclined notch, the bar 7 will be held at an angle with respect to the block 9 and the projecting rods 8 will also be supported at an angle, so that work held thereby will not be liable to drop over the edges of said rods but will be positioned back against the side of the swinging support 2.

The rectangular shaped block 9 is connected with the adjacent side of the swinging support 2 by means of a swivel 14: and is adapted to rotate thereon. To prevent too free rotation of the rectangular shaped block 9 on the swivel 14, frictional washer plate 15 is interposed between the inner surface of the block 9 and the side of the swinging support 2 and surrounds the swivel 14:, so that the said block will not normally turn too easily but will only movewhen a certain amount of force is applied thereto. However, the use of this washer is optional and if desired, the same may be left ofi.

When the work holding racks of this device are positioned as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be obvious that any work, for instance such as ends of a tablecloth that is being pressed upon the ironing board which hangs over the edges of the same will be caught and held by the said racks and will be prevented from dropping to the ground and being soiled or stepped upon. When this type of ironing board is being used for small articles and it is not desired to use the work holding racks, the same are swung in a vertical plane through the swivel connection of the rectangular shaped block 9, and then through the medium of the hinge 10 are turned inwardly in a horizontal plane until they are positioned parallel with one of the ends of the swinging support 2. When in this position, it

will be obvious that they will be out of the way of the user of the ironing board and also when it is desired to fold said board, they will not in any way obstruct the folding operation of the swinging support 2.

The type of ironing board to which these racks are applied may be secured to the stationary support necessary in any desired manner, but preferably in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The board hereby shown is rovided with a coacting supporting memlier 16 that has an aperture therethrough that is adapted to aline with the corresponding sized aperture throu h one end of the ironing board. A bolt 1 is adapted to be positioned through said alining apertures and also through one end of a sleeve ironing board 18 that is also held thereby above the ironing board 1. The bolt 17 is held in position by means of a locking nut 19 that is positioned above the sleeve ironing board 18. The upper outer edges of the supporting member 16 are provided with a plurality of radially projecting notches 20 into one of which is adapted to be positioned a locking stud 21 that depends from the lower surface of the ironing board 1. When this locking stud 21 is positioned in one of the notches 20 and the bolt 17 is locked into position, the board 1 will be securely engaged by the supporting member 16 in any angle with respect thereto according to the position in which the same is locked. This supporting member 16 is adapted to be removably secured to a board 22 that is securely engaged to some stationary form of support, for instance the wall, and which has projecting therefrom in spaced relation'a pair of eyes 23 which are adapted to receive pintles 2 1 that project from either side adjacent one end of the supporting member 16. This end of the supporting member 16 is adapted .to be positioned between the eyes 23, and

when the pintles 24 of the same are positioned through said eyes, it will be obvious that the same will be hingedly engaged therewith, and when the board is not in operation, it is adapted to swing down so that it will be out of the way. One of the pintles 2a which is designated by the numeral 24 is provided with an angular projecting inner end 25 that extends upwardly through the top of the member 16 and is slidably mounted therein so that when it is desired to remove the board entirely, this member is moved inwardly out of engagement with the eye 23, whereby the member 16 may be easily removed, and the board disengaged.

The lower end of the swinging support 2 is provided with an adjustment so that the height of the same may be varied according to the angle at which the board is placed. This adjustment comprises a block 27 which has one of its sides provided with a plurality of teeth 28 and has an elongated slot 29 extending therethrough. The lower end of the swinging member 2 has one of its sides also provided with a plurality of teeth 30, and has an aperture 31 extending through the same adjacent its extremity. The teeth 28 of the block 27 are adapted for coaction with the teeth 30 on the lower end of the swinging support and said block is adapted to be held in position so that the teeth may be so engaged by means of a headed bolt 32 that projects through said block and through the aperture 31 in the lower end of the support, and said bolt is held in position by means of a wing nut 33 that is mounted on the projecting end of the same adjacent the support. It will be obvious that upon loosening the wing nut 33, the block 27 may be moved a short distance away from the lower end of the support, whereby the teeth will be out of engagement and owing to the elongated slot 29 in said block, the block may be shifted longitudinally along the support to a different position and upon tightening of the nut 33, the teeth will again be brought into engagement and the block locked as originally.

The above description of the variousmeans of securing the end of the board to the wall, and the adjustment for the lower end of the swingingmember-that supports said board are not essential parts of this invention but merely illustrate the preferred type of ironing board to which this attachment may be applied. The work holding racks that are disposed beneath the ironing board and are held in position by theabove described connection with the opposite sides of the swinging support, form a very efficient attachment that prevents the ends of the article being ironed from dropping to the floor and becoming soiled thereby. The form of attachment used for the same enables these racks to be swung when not in use to a position where they will notinterfere with the user of the ironing board when ironing articles where it is not necessary to use the said racks. The racks are also connected so that they will not interfere with the folding of the swinging support in any manner.

From the foregoing description of the construction of my improved device, the

manner of applying the same to use and the operation thereof will be readily understood and it will be seen that I have provided a simple, inexpensive and eflicient means for carrying out the objects of this invention.

I claim:

1. The combination with a support, a pair of work holding racks, blocks of a corresponding size to the width of said support, swiveled to opposite sides of the same, and

hinge connections between one edge of said blocks and the racks whereby said racks may be swung from operative horizontal position, in a vertical and horizontal plane to position them parallel with and adjacent to one of the contiguous sides of said support when not in use.

2. The combination with a support, of a pair of bars, a plurality of laterally projecting spaced alining rods on the outer surfaces of said bars, rectangular shaped blocks swiveled to the opposite sides of the support, and hingemembers connecting one edge of the blocks and said bars, and the sides of said bars adjacent the blocks having inclined notches therein adapted to hold the bars and rods at an angle to the suport. P 3. The combination with a support, of a pair of bars rectangular shaped 1n cross section, a plurality of laterally projecting spaced alining rods on the outer surface of said bars, hinge members secured to the upper surfaces of said rods, rectangular shaped blocks swive'led to opposite sides of said support, hinge members secured to the upper edges of said blocks, and connected with the hinge members on the upper surfaces of the same, said bars having inclined notches in their inner surfaces adjacent the blocks extending outwardly from the upper surface to the lower surface of the same, and frictional washers interposed between the rectangular shaped blocks and the opposite sides of the support.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LARS P. BENSON. Witnesses:

NELs SwANsoN, J. F. CoNRoY. 

